If Christianity teaches that JESUS is GOD and the Jewish Shema in the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:4) teaches that God is ONE, how can these two seemingly opposing views be true at once?
Starting from the Law of Moses, there is a stunning PROGRESSIVE REVELATION of the ONE God as a UNITY (ECHAD) of THREE persons. This is looong before the Greeks, Romans, Paul, the Church, Nicea or Tertullian). If you are looking for logic in this very unique nature of God you will be disappointed because to begin with, a being who is eternal with no beginning IS illogical to our rational minds!
Progressive revelation means that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God than the earlier sections.
What does it REALLY MEAN that God is ONE if Jesus confirmed (Mark12:29) the Shema/central belief of Judaism in the Law of Moses (Torah) that God is ONE:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
‘Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Mark 12:29).
Jesus also declares in his own words: “I and the Father are ONE.” (John 10:30). [“ONE” in Deuteronomy 6:4 in the Hebrew language is “ECHAD” which means a single entity but made up of more than one part (UNITY/COMPOUND).
Even the Arabic equivalent, AHAD (from which the Islamic Tawhid is derived) means “one of” and is usually used to indicate part of a whole. AHAD does not mean absolute singularity. All attributes of Allah of the Kaaba, as is the claim, are united with his essence and also united with each other.
[There is a Hebrew word that means “absolute singularity,” (YACHID), but it is never used in the Hebrew Scriptures in reference to God! The Hebrew scriptures never says “God is YACHID”]
“ECHAD” is also used in Genesis 2:24 in referring to a husband and wife, who are TWO becoming united into “ONE” (ECHAD) flesh:
“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one (ECHAD) flesh. (Genesis 2:24).
What did Jesus really mean when he said “I and the Father are ONE.”? (John 10:30).
[ONE (ἕν) in the Greek Lexicon is numerical/refers to number/as opposed to many or as opposed to one in purpose].
Jesus was claiming to be in the same nature with YAHWEH because in the Old Testament, it is YAHWEH who is the shepherd and we are the sheep in his hand:
“For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His HAND. Today, if you will hear His VOICE” (Psalms 95:7).
AMAZINGLY, Like YAHWEH, Jesus said: “My sheep listen to my VOICE; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my HAND. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are ONE.” (John 10:27-30)
Clearly the context is that the nature of YAHWEH and Jesus is the same. They are ONE.
Jesus is the God-man!
After Jesus says “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) the Jews picked up stones to stone him: “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (John 10:33). They further attempt to stone him when he says “The Father is in me and I in the Father” (John 10:38).
Can any prophet or angel be in the Father? No!
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14:8-10)
YAHWEH says:
“I AM THE FIRST AND I AM THE LAST; besides me there is no god”. (Isaiah 44:6)
Jesus says:
“I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
(Revelation 1:17-18).
In the first book of the Torah (Genesis), Moses was the first to write about the supernatural occurrence of God being on earth and being in heaven at the same time, when God had visited Abraham and Lot on earth, in the form of the angel of the lord, to turn the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah from their wickedness:
“Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;”(Genesis 19:24)
Wow!
Jesus instructs the disciples to baptize “in the NAME (not names) of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
In fact, at Jesus’s baptism the three persons of the unity of God are mentioned in the same event:
‘And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending like a dove and coming to REST on him; and behold, A VOICE FROM HEAVEN said, “This is my BELOVED SON, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
Jesus is not God’s Son in the sense of a human father and a son. God did not get married and have a son. God did not mate with Mary and, together with her, produce a son. Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that He is God made manifest in human form (John 1:1, 14).
Pagan religions like that of Greek mythology (Zues worship) believed that Zues had to engage in sex with his wives in order to have children. Like the pagan gods, Allah of the Qur’an also thinks that it is impossible for him to have children (QS 6:101) unless he has genitals and a partner/consort:
QS 6:101. “He is Wonderful and Primary Originator of the heavens and the earth! How (and whence) can there be a son for Him, when He has no consort? He has created all things and He has perfect knowledge of everything.”
Of course the word ‘Trinity’ does not appear anywhere in scripture but originated later from the early Christian writer, Tertullian, to describe the beautiful “components” of the ONE God which were already found in the scriptures long before the word Trinity was used. Just because some one invented the term ‘oxygen’, it doesn’t mean that people were not breathing oxygen from the beginning! Originally, the word means something like ‘the tripleness’. It is used to refer collectively to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, Moses (the Torah), the Prophets of old and the apostles spoke of these three persons long before Tertullian.
So how do we understand the beautiful relationship between the 3 PERSONS in the Godhead: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although the Father is greater in rank, the three persons share the same essence of God—exist in eternity as spirit. They are unified together as God and function in harmony in the universe as well as in the lives of mankind. While the members of the Godhead have common goals and purpose, as well as shared attributes and functions, each person of the Trinity also has unique roles and responsibilities. In the relational nature of God, The Father directs and delegates the activities of the other two persons. The Father directs and has authority over the Son. The Son obeys and is responsive to the directives of the Father. The Son is SENT. The Holy Spirit is obedient to the directives of both the father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is SENT.
Did Moses therefore make any reference to the Father, the Son (Messiah) and the Holy Spirit?
THE FATHER.
The fifth book of the Torah (Law of Moses) makes reference to the true God (whose name (Exodus 3 :15) is “God of Abraham, Isaac and the God of Jacob”) as ‘our Father’ (spiritually). Those who believe in him are spiritually the CHILDREN of God [but the 7th century Allah of the Qur’an, who claims to be the God of the Torah (QS 29:46), opposes the Torah he claims to have sent, by saying that he is Father to no one (QS 6:100). God being our spiritual Father does not mean (as the Greek pagan worshipers of Zues and the Qur’an (QS 6:101) would have Muslims believe too) that it is impossible for us to be God’s children, unless God had genitals and a partner/consort! Allah seems very limited in his ability to relate spiritually to his creation as his children. In his limitation, Allah identifies, in this case, with the pagan gods of Greek mythology!
In this 5th book of the Torah, Moses reminds the rebellious children of Israelites:
“Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and unwise people? Is he not your FATHER, your Creator, who made you and formed you?” (Deuteronomy 32:6).
The book of the prophet Isaiah (from which Muslims unsuccessfully try to prove Muhammad as the servant of Isaiah 42) also refers to God as Father.
“But you are our FATHER, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” Isaiah 63:16.
(Also check Isaiah 64:8 and Jeremiah 31:9).
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The first book of the Torah (Genesis) is the first to make reference to the Spirit of God:
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2).
The Spirit of God is SPIRIT, holy, eternal, gives life. The Holy Spirit is God in essence. The Holy Spirit is subservient to the Father. The Holy Spirit is SENT and dwells IN believers. King David said:
“When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you SEND your SPIRIT , they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.” (Psalms 104:29-30).
In the 4th book of the Torah, Moses had an encounter with the Holy Spirit who RESTED on him and the 70 elders of Israel and they began to prophesy.
“I [God] will come down and speak with you [Moses] there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit RESTED on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again. (Numbers 11:17, 25).
Moses and the Elders’ experience with the Holy Spirit easily reminds one of the New Testament encounter with the Holy Spirit/Spirit of Truth /Helper (whom Jesus had promised to SEND) when it RESTED on the believers and they began to speak in the language of foreign nations:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to REST on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them “(Acts 2:1-4).
The Holy Spirit also rested on Jesus during his baptism. You too (if you believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus) can receive the Holy Spirit which marks (seals) us as chosen for eternity in heaven (Ephesians 4:30)
3. MOSES ON THE MESSIAH AS A PERSON OF THE TRINITY
A study of the prophecies of the Messiah show that the Prophets of old, who wrote of the Messiah, were saying the SAME THING over many generations: the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of the kings of Israel (from the line Jesse and David) and would be given a THRONE, SOVEREIGN POWER, GLORY and will RULE the NATIONS and the KINGDOM OF GOD FOREVER.
PROPHECY NUMBER 1
In the book of Genesis (first book of the Torah/Law of Moses) when Jacob blesses his twelve sons, he blesses his son Judah and makes a prophecy about the ONE to whom “the obedience of the nations will be his” (also prophesied as the son of man/Son of God in Daniel 7:13-14, 1 Chronicles 17:11-15, Isaiah 9:6). Jesus is referred to as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5)
What is the prophecy in the Law of Moses Jacob makes about the Messiah?
Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
Genesis 49:1
“Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. You are a LIONS CUB, JUDAH; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The SCEPTER will not depart from Judah, nor the RULER’S STAFF from between his feet, until HE TO WHOM IT BELONGS SHALL COME and THE OBEDIENCE OF THE NATIONS SHALL BE HIS (Genesis 49:8-10).
The ONE to come, the Messiah, will be king of all the nations in his second coming.
PROPHECY NUMBER 2
The prophet Nathan, during the time of King David, is sent by God to deliver a prophecy to King David:
“When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne FOREVER. I will be his FATHER, and he will be my SON. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him OVER MY HOUSE and MY KINGDOM forever; his throne will be established FOREVER.’ ” Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation
(1 Chronicles 17:11-15).
It is not surprising therefore that in the Gospel, Jesus often speaks of his Father and him (Jesus) being the Son. In the book of Moses (Genesis 49:1-10) we also read that the ONE would, unlike the other kings, be obeyed by the nations. The Son in this scripture will be king in the kingdom of God and he will be ‘set over God’s house’ or temple.
FULFILLMENT
“But Christ is faithful as the Son OVER GOD’S HOUSE. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Hebrews 3:6
The house/temple of God is a house which is forever. It’s a spiritual house, not a house made with hands by Solomon, king Herod (or the Kaaba claimed to have been built by Adam, Abraham and Ishmael). The house of God is the church, not a physical church building, but the collective of believers in Jesus Christ the Son of God. It is in the belief that he is the Son of God, that Jesus built his church (Matthew 16:18) and the gates of hell will not prevail over it.
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief CORNERSTONE, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:19-22
Believers are built together into a House of God, with Jesus as the CORNERSTONE of the House of God, for a dwelling place of God in the spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
The Kaaba and the Hajr e aswad (House of Allah and the black stone as its CORNERSTONE is a deception, imitation, mockery and blasphemy of the true house of God.
2. PROPHECY NUMBER 3
First of all, in the Tanakh Jewish scripture/OT) written long before the Romans, Paul or Nicea, Daniel saw in the throne of heaven the ‘son of man’ (whom Jesus said he was) come before the ‘Ancient of days’ (the Father) and the Ancient of days gave him an EVERLASTING kingdom:
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, GLORY and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language WORSHIPED him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his KINGDOM is one that will NEVER BE DESTROYED .”
Daniel 7:13-14
Is there anywhere in the Qur’an where Allah says he will give Isa this honor (a prophet) to reign in the everlasting kingdom forever?
Apparently Isa will rule for 40 years then DIE! This is NOT the true Jesus.
Does this scripture of Daniel match with Jesus CHRIST? YES!
FULFILLMENT
Jesus Christ will sit on his throne and judge the nations.
“When the Son of Man comes in His GLORY, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the THRONE of His glory (Matthew 25:31).
The angel Gabriel in the gospel of Luke continues this prophecy about the THRONE and REIGN and KINGDOM of the Messiah as written in the Jewish OT:
“He shall be GREAT, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the THRONE of his father David: and he shall REIGN over the house of Jacob FOR EVER; and of his KINGDOM there shall be NO END.”
(Luke 1:32-33).
Who is true to the teaching of the prophets about the Messiah: Gabriel of the Gospels or “Jibreel” of the Qur’an?
Therefore the “components” of the ONE TRIUNE God (the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) are clearly expressed in the Old Testament.
It is the mysterious angel which Muhammad met in the cave (which Muhammad’s wife Khadijah claimed to be the Angel Gabriel of the Bible) who breaks the chain of narration of the Torah and Gospels and opposes, rather than corrects, the previous scriptures.
Blessings!
1.The trinity in the Old testament
https://youtu.be/6ZID3ez34zk
2. Jesus (the arm of the Lord), the Holy Spirit and Trinity in the old testament
https://youtu.be/9kttWxluMUQ
3. Jesus: the angel of the Lord in the Trinity
4. The Holy Spirit in the Old testament
https://youtu.be/X5IF7ScEuQI
5. Jesus and God are one
https://youtu.be/HJwSUvuY_vk